Country Songwriting :: The Musicology Show :: Vol. 40

From the lonesome lakes of Wisconsin to California’s fields and orchards, JJ Schultz has been traveling and writing country-folk ballads. As we hear here, one of the main tensions in classic country songwriting is the balance between sweet, major-key melodies and melancholy words. It’s a tradition of songcraft that places value on specific imagery, concrete visual descriptions, and identifiable situations. Those lyrical scenes are key. This episode explores the tradition, and extols the virtues of great songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. (12 mins.)